China is Blocking Peppa Pig. Chinese fans of Peppa Pig had already noticed this weekend: on Douyin, a kind of Chinese YouTube, the pig was bare to be found. The BBC cartoon is on the blacklist.
Nudes, transvestites, images of weapons, speeches of sects, … It’s all on the list of banned content from Douyin, a popular online video platform in China. And according to several Chinese newspapers and local newspaper The Greater, including the English-language Global Times, which could view the blacklist, the BBC cartoon Peppa Pig is now on the list.
The British pink piglet has conquered the Chinese market since the beginning of the 2000s and – like here – is very popular with toddlers and preschoolers. According to BBC, Peppa Pig has been viewed 34 billion times on various websites. More than 100 translated episodes have been broadcast on Chinese television.
Previously, you also found 30,000 clips under the hashtag Peppa Pig on the platform Douyin. But now there is no trace of #PeppaPig. According to Global Times, the explanation for the cleanup operation can be found in the shehuire subculture. Peppa Pig has become a cult icon of young people via the internet since the end of 2017. There are tattoo stickers on the pink pig, it is used in memes and even appears in ‘sexually suggestive settings’.
And the adults too have fallen for Peppa. In websites hundreds of yuan are paid for ‘Peppa Pig’ knick-knacks. Well-known actors and actresses post pictures with their hugs, …
The Chinese government sees that Peppa Pig hype as a threat to the positive morality in society. A counter-offensive has already been organized with Chinese cartoon pigs. Now there seems to be an online blockade there.
